Box Score
Barry Johnson and
Markus Monroe scored 19 points each and led six Wayland Baptist players in double figures as the Pioneers rolled over Dallas Christian in the final game of the Pioneer Holiday Classic on Sunday afternoon, 100-71.
"I thought this weekend was really good for our team," said WBU coach
Matt Garnett, whose Pioneers defeated Texas Lutheran on Saturday, 103-80. "They have continued to show positive growth and taken strides in becoming more of a team. I think it's something we really have to be focused on and ready for Thursday night…to go play good basketball against a very good Oklahoma City team."
At 9-1, Wayland is one win short of matching the best start in school history. The 2004-05 Pioneers started 10-1, finishing their season with a 16-13 record.
"We're just excited for Thursday," Garnett said in looking ahead to the Sooner Athletic Conference opener on the road against the Stars. "The biggest thing that we've worked on all year is we've treated every non-conference game like it's the biggest game of the season, so nothing will change in our preparation.
"This is a fun time of the year to get to start league play."
Besides Johnson and Monroe, also scoring in double figures for Wayland, which shot 51 percent (37-of-72) from the field, were
Kelly Lawson with 13 points,
Travis Payton with 12 and
Royal Crouch and
Juhreece Thompson with 10 each.
A day after coming up one rebound shy of a double-double in Wayland's win over Texas Lutheran, Lawson recorded his second double-double of the season by pulling down 11 rebounds. Both Monroe and Thompson were a rebound shy of their own double-doubles.
Dallas Christian, which defeated Texas Lutheran on Friday night, 65-64, was led in scoring by Joshua Harris' 14 points off the bench. Chad Herring, Edgar Gueraca and Michael Haynes added 11 points apiece.
The Pioneers defeated Dallas Christian, 95-84, when the teams met in Abilene on Dec. 16. The rematch wasn't nearly as close as Wayland raced to a 25-6 lead and led by as many as 22 points.
"I thought our guys really made a concerted effort to be great defensively early in the game, and because of that we were able to get our offense going. When we were able to get those stops, it fed our offense," Garnett said.
The Crusaders (2-12) managed to pull to within 13, 53-40, at halftime.
"Dallas Christian is a very resilient bunch. They continue to play and don't ever stop competing," Garnett said. "When you get off to a good start, the ability to really stay focused and committed to playing every defensive possession is a real test of how good your team is. I think a combination of Dallas Christian doing some things well and us losing our edge for a few minutes put us in a spot where we had to really come out after the half and dig in and try to re-establish our defense."
The Pioneers did, and they began pulling away again midway through the second half.
"We were playing a lot harder at the start of the second half than we did at the end of the first half," Garnett said. "Dallas Christian really forced us to become better on the boards. Once we were able to finish some defensive possessions, we were able to get some rhythm back offensively."
The Pioneers' largest lead was 31 points, 87-56, on a layup by
Travis Payton with 7½ minutes remaining.
"At about the 10-minute mark the game was going to go one direction or another. I thought our guys really rallied and put together a stretch of good basketball on both sides of the ball," Garnett said. "I thought Travis really did a good job of leading in a key moment. He really stepped his play up, both physical and emotionally."
Wayland had almost twice as many rebounds as Dallas Christian, 60-34, and the Pioneers had three times as many assists as the Crusaders, 24-8, with Johnson's seven helpers leading the way.
After hitting 15-of-30 from 3-point range on Saturday, the Pioneers were just 4-of-16 on Sunday. WBU made 22-of-31 (71 percent) from the free-throw line.
Wayland's Pioneers and Flying Queens open Sooner Athletic Conference play this week, going on the road to take on Oklahoma City University (4-4, 0-1) on Thursday night and Southwestern Christian (5-3, 1-0) on Saturday afternoon. On the men's side, newcomer Southwestern Christian defeated OCU at home on Dec. 17, 82-79.
Wayland returns home on Jan. 9 to take on Oklahoma Baptist.
NOTE: According to officials after the game, Monroe was erroneously ejected after receiving one Class A and one Class B technical foul.
